I must ask really hard, or really stupid questions.

I've seen you, Jay, answer questions graciously on this forum and on others, so it was nothing ad hominum (forgot my Latin). Really, I was just commenting in general.

I just understand the OP's frustration. Paid support is way too expensive for FMS and it sucks having to rely on the kindness of strangers to get help.

Wish there were something between free and paid.

Hi, Neeeol:

Wish I could help you with the question, but it's beyond me. Believe me, I'd be the first to lend a hand.

I wanted to tell you that I didn't see your query as a rant at all. I've been there myself and have felt the same frustration you expressed. The forums often do seem to require secret handshakes and magic words in order to get responses. In fact, this place kind of feels like an Elk's Club or a Masonic Organization (complete with fezzes), and if you're not "in" you're "out." Hopefully, someone who is well-liked will post/has posted a similar question so that you can cobble together a solution.

I tried hard NOT to word this as a rant - I was begging! I'm sorry you took it the wrong way.

Y'know.... it's not too often that I rant on a support forum, but this post sort of got under my skin so,

<rant>

1. This is a user end forum, where people answer questions because they like to help people. If you post a question, you sometimes need to give it a while before someone both has the answer, and feels like putting in the time to type it out for you (you did ask your questions right at the start of the weekend after all).

2. Complaining that you're not getting the answers you want fast enough is a sure fire way to see to it that you questions remain unanswered, and it is in tremendously bad form to create a new thread to lodge such a complaint. Even though your wording was quite civil, the message is clear (I'm not satified with what I'm getting from you guys), and that's a lousy message to put across. People who post answers on support forums do so out of a willingness to help, and they don't owe it to you.

3. About you're boss's expectations, either he knows FMS is foreign to you and he's expecting too much, or you've overstated your qualifications. Regardless, one should not need to rely on forum responses to meet a deadline, and it really rubs me the wrong way when people come into to a forum crying that they need timely answers to satisfy their job requirements. If you boss wants it done on a deadline and you can't do it (whatever the reason may be), you need to tell him to hire someone who can.

</rant>